Yesterday, I spoke with one of my Angel friends. She is three months into building her practice – helping women reconnect with their internal spirit through getting connected with nature. I know her spirit: she wants to empower others, reconnect them with the Earth, and help them gain a new level of happiness and understanding.

Three months after starting, she’s ready to quit.

When I asked her how much time she was putting into promoting her business and how she was working to promote it, she balked. “That is all too stressful,” she replied. “I don’t even want to think about all that DOing. It’s too masculine…. I’m just going to take a break from it for a while. Hey, I’ve gotta go…” (That isn’t verbatim – just the gist of the conversation.)

I see this sooooo often in our field. People rush in with a dream and a mission and a vision that they KNOW will help to change the world (even if it is person-by-person). They are in love with what they do. They get the training, do plenty of  freebies to hone their practices, build a website and put a page on social media… and then they wait.

When the clients don’t just magically appear, their enthusiasm wanes and they schedule a bunch of posts for their Facebook pages and write a bunch of blog pieces, hoping that someone will see them. When the readers don’t come, they pull back a little more – hoping that doing some internal work will bring the clients and followers in droves.

When that doesn’t happen, most of them sigh and either learn yet another form of energy healing or massage method to add to their extensive list of qualifications – and then repeat the process all over again. Or they just quit.

For some reason, many people think that excitement + a website + qualifications + social media profiles + creating (programs, blog posts, freebies) MUST EQUAL success.

But it just isn’t so.

You see, there are a couple of things missing from that equation: consistent energy, promotion, reaching out to the community, communication, relationship building – and time.

Building a successful and fulfilling business organically (not buying leads or followers) requires a lot of patience and some hustle. You’ve gotta be willing to put the required hours into promoting your business – anywhere between 10 minutes and an hour a day, creating new content, building relationships with people (they won’t be jumping to buy your stuff until they get to know you – we’ll talk about that in a minute) – putting yourself out there and putting energy into your business.

And it takes time. Not a month, not three months – maybe not even a year. There are so many conscious and spiritual business people who pour their hearts and souls into their businesses for years before they find the level of success they were hoping for – and there are those who quit after 2 months.

Personally, I am in my fifth year now, and things are starting to pick up. My FIFTH!

I know that there are many “business gurus” out there who will tell you that you can earn $5,000 in your first month if you do X, Y, and Z. I know that there are rags to riches stories tugging at your thought strings, convincing you that everyone out there achieves success in a short amount of time – everyone except for you, that is.

I want to be the one to gently give you the reality of it. It takes hard work. It takes time. It takes COMMITMENT (think of this as a marriage, not a casual affair).

Speaking of marriage versus a casual affair, this is the way you have to see attracting clients. People aren’t going to like your Facebook page or follow you on Twitter and instantly book a reading or session with you. They will follow you for a while, see what you have to say, get to know you a bit better and THEN become a customer. Wooing them will take time – and they won’t jump into a relationship with the first practitioner, instructor, or reader they come across.

They will watch what you say and how you say it. They’ll get to know you and the way you do things. They will laugh at your jokes (or not), and they will seek to understand how it is you see the world. Most of all, they will want to see if they have that connection with you – that’s why it will take a while for each of your clients to pick YOU, specifically, to serve them. And that “getting to know you” phase can take a while.

What do you do when people don’t like you? Read here: Getting Unfollowed

Not only that, but you really, really have to consider how many people actually know who you are! Reaching new clients and followers requires that you put yourself out there and meet new people. You have to find ways of attracting new clients to your website or introducing yourself to new audiences.

Word of mouth referrals are golden, but you can’t rely solely on them when you are first starting out! When you are first starting out, you will need to stretch a bit to introduce yourself and your work to others. You’ll have to put yourself out there. You’ll have to toot your horn a bit.

And you will meet some fabulous people in the process. You know, your ideal clients aren’t just anybody – they are the people who you will adore working with – your superfans. It’s likely that you will fall just as in love with them as they are with you. And that is good!

So, just remember, it will likely take a while.

Creating the business of your dreams is a marathon, not a sprint. It might take a while to reach the finish line, and your finish line might look much different in your third month than it does in your third year.

Don’t give up! Keep at it. It might take you outside of your comfort zone, but it will be well worth it!

Are you ready to throw in the towel on your spiritually based business? Let’s chat! I offer complimentary half-hour sessions to help you identify some easy changes you can make to your site and social media presence in order to attract more clients. You can schedule yours today!

Book a package with me to get the support, motivation, and advice that will help you feel confident in working to build your dream business! You can find the details by clicking here (Business Mentoring).

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